The Grand Finale Read Online Free Page B

gets out of school.”
    Berry’s face brightened. That was a hopefulthought. It wasn’t exactly run-of-the-mill. The police would probably have an easy time finding it.
     
    Four hours later, Mrs. Fitz placed a plate of cookies and a glass of milk in front of Jake. “It’s not so bad. Nobody’s been hurt. You just lost your car for a while.”
    Jake stared glassy-eyed at the cookies, mumbling things Berry couldn’t quite catch. Things that might sound like…I knew I was doomed the minute I saw her.
    Mrs. Dugan patted his hand. “We filed a police report. The officers said they’d be sure to find an unusual car like that.”
    “It’s unique. I had it specially restored. There’s not another one like it in the whole world.”
    Be sympathetic, Berry thought. Remember how devastated you were when your car jumped off that cliff?
    Yes, she answered herself, but I needed that car to exist. This car was a toy. And this car was insured.
    Berry, Berry, Berry, she chanted. Men love their toys. And everyone knows there’s thiswhole complicated connection between men and their cars and their cock-a-doodle. Although from what she’d seen, Jake’s cock-a-doodle really didn’t need automotive fortification. Still, it was hard to be sympathetic when there was that business with him mumbling about being doomed. She suspected he was mumbling about her…as if she was a disaster or something.
    She pounded pizza dough on the large wooden counter behind Jake. I am not a disaster, she thought. Okay, so I fell out of a tree. Big deal. It could happen to anyone. And then my Jeep committed suicide. I don’t really see where that was my fault. Finally, did I ask him to loan me his car? No! Did I tell him to park it on this street? No! And I didn’t ask him to kiss me, either!
    Mrs. Fitz peered across the counter at Berry. “Good heavens, child, you’re just about beating that poor dough to death.”
    Berry blew out a sigh. For a full year after her divorce she’d taken her frustrations out on pizza dough. If it hadn’t been for pizza dough she might have turned into a homicidal maniac. Then little by little her life had fallen into place, her sunnydisposition had returned, peace and purpose had replaced the disorder of disillusionment.
    Berry poked at the massacred lump. She’d known Jake Sawyer for less than twenty-four hours and here she was smashing innocent pizza dough again. The man was a threat to her sanity. He gave her an upset stomach. He made her act like a boob, blushing and stammering and falling out of trees.
    You don’t need this, Berry thought, taking a vicious swipe at the dough with her wooden rolling pin. Someday she would be ready for another relationship—but not now. First, she had to get the Pizza Place on its feet. Second, she’d get her bachelor’s degree. Third…
    Third was interrupted by the phone ringing. Mrs. Fitz answered and smiled. “It’s the police. They’ve found the car!”
    Jake stared at the address Mrs. Fitz had written. “The corner of Grande and Seventeenth Street.”
    Berry pulled her quilted vest over a gray hooded sweatshirt. “I know where that is. It’s less than half a mile from here. We can walk.”
    Jake stood in the doorway, zipped his parka, and took a grim assessment. A cold mist drizzled down the grimy brick facades of nearby stores, and intermittent gusts of wind buffeted plate-glass windows. Sodden newspapers and assorted litter slapped against doorways and clogged gutters. This part of town wasn’t attractive, and it obviously wasn’t safe. And it was not the ideal neighborhood for a defenseless, pretty little blond and three little old ladies, Jake thought.
    Berry knew what Jake was seeing. He was seeing bars at first-floor windows installed to prevent burglaries. He was seeing the empty beer cans and wine bottles that hadn’t made it into trash cans. He was imagining thugs lurking in the alleys, and poverty hiding behind closed doors.
    “It’s not all that